‘Ours is a family of musicians’

Oluwatosin Bamidele Owomoyela is the younger brother of the late Orlando Owoh famous for the the Africa Kennery Band. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde and Udemma Chukwuma, Owomoyela, an automobile engineer turned musician, went down memory lane to talk about the music that runs in the family his early life with Orlando Owoh, and the controversial sides of his late brother who died about five years ago

You play kennery music which was synonymous with the late Orlando Owoh, are you related to him?

He is my elder brother, not immediate. My dad had 11 wives and Orlando was number 17 or thereabout. I should be number 37 on dad’s list of children.

How was it like growing up in that kind of home?

It was a very loving home and we lived happily together. We are from Ifon, near Owo in Ondo State. My father was richly blessed; God gave him a lot of wisdom. He was very rich and he was into building and carpentry. He was a total technician, he built and constructed. Everyone was involved helping him to make the business successful and my brother was a trader.

What kind of father was he?

He was a great man and a very loving man. We are a family of musicians. Our father was a musician and most of the philosophical Orlando songs are truly my father’s song. He was everything you could wish for in a father.

At what point did Orlando decide to go into full time music?

We were born into it. There is a culture in my family that if you give birth to a baby, you would put the child on the bed to beat something like a drum and the child must react to it. If not they would say that this child is not our own. Orlando was born into it and later he started discovering himself. All Owomoyelas passed through the choir at the Methodist Church at Oshogbo. We were all born in Oshogbo, our father settled in Oshogbo.

As a choir boy, Orlando was talented and should I say rascally. He was a multi- instrumentalist, singer and he had another thing going for him. He was also a dramatist. At the latter stage of his life, he joined some theatre groups like Kola Ogunmola.

At what point did you join him in music?

I studied Automobile Engineering and started with the Federal Government Technical College in Oyo, where I acquired some other certificates. I practiced for about 10 years and worked with reputable motor companies like SA Motors, Guinness Nigeria Plc and Glaxo Pharmaceuticals. However, the urge to play music wouldn’t allow me to do any other thing. I was with him as an apprentice in his band. The band was first known as Dr Orlando Owoh and his Formina Band and later it became the African Kenneries.

I later started my band, Tosin Owoh and the Zion Kennery band. I grew in the church and that was why I added Zion but I play just exactly like him. We play at events like birthdays, weddings, burial and travel from place to place. I have been to so many countries around the world like France, Holland, Ghana, all for music. Working with Orlando was fun and I don’t think that there was any big event in Nigeria in his days that he was not invited to. He played for personalities like Alex Akinyele, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, General Olusegun Obasanjo and we went to Abuja to play for Babangida.

Orlando was an ex soldier and he was also a revolutionary. If you listen to his songs, you would find some of the messages that he believed in. I am working to be like him and even surpass him.

What do you consider as the greatest influence in Life?

First of all, I would say God Almighty. I look up to God for everything. Next I would say my father because he was an all rounder. Then I had a great relationship with Orlando. In fact, he single- handedly funded my marriage about 20 years ago and I have five children from the union. My father had 11 wives but he advised his children not to take after him in this aspect of life.

Why didn’t Orlando follow dad’s instruction?

I would call him a replica of my father. When I see him, I see my father. Perhaps, it is the gene running in him. Officially, he had four or five wives but he had women all over the federation. There is no state that the doctor, did not have a woman, fans and admirers.

He was a revolutionary of some sort; Do you share some of these qualities?

That thing comes naturally with all of us. There are lots of things that I cannot do that my brother could do. Interestingly, I have only one wife and I took to Orlando Owoh’s advice. He said he had so many wives but I should not emulate him. I am also a member of the choir at the Methodist church, Palm Avenue, Mushin Lagos. I must say that with the help of God everything is going well for us.

If you had to advise young people, what would you tell them?

First, I would tell them to have the fear of God. They should be focused, know what you want to do. When I was working with the motor company and at the other places, I knew that my destination was music. That was why I went for apprenticeship under Orlando Owoh. It wasn’t as if the money was much, I just wanted to learn one or two things. So, it is important that they should remain focused, have the fear of God and listen to their parents.

Orlando, like Fela Anikulapo Kuti, was a controversial person, what did you learn from him and how did you affect his life?

He was positively controversial. He sang against the ills of the society and when you do that there are times when you would be on the wrong side of the government. When I joined the band, I tried to reform the band administratively. The talent was already there and what I did was to manage the band. My brother who is now based in the United States was also there with us.

Orlando smoked Indian hemp and sang about it. He was also arrested for having drugs in his custody at some point, how did you feel about this?

Indian hemp in itself is not bad. I don’t smoke but for some people Indian hemp is a spiritual thing. When he was arrested there was sabotage. He had the record for Dele Giwa and was the only artist who was bold enough to do something like that then. Just before the album came out the government people called him, saying we heard that you wanted to release an album for Dele Giwa, please don’t try it. He now retorted: “What if I do?” And they said there would be problem. He said he would never be afraid of anyone, that he was a soldier and was willing to die like a soldier any time.

So he released the album and that was the genesis of the problem and the cocaine was planted in his bedroom. I was there that fateful day, the day they came to arrest him. It was arranged by the government. You know that Dele Giwa’s death was controversial and the album was quite revealing. I sang the song at a show recently and the crowd rose to give Orlando a standing ovation.

What plans do you have for the next five years?

I have started something for my late brother. Every year I stage the Orlando Owoh Memorial Dance where his colleagues and fans relived memories of the good old days. This is the fifth year and in November we will be celeb rating the man again. We had the last edition at the Officer’s Mess and it was very exciting. Hopefully, the next edition will be there also and we are still working on the modalities. Apart from the Lagos show we would also be taking it to Ondo and Osun states this year.

I try as much as possible to promote the Kennery rhythm which he initiated. By the grace of God we have been pushing it around, that rhythm will never die and my album would soon be in the market.